Bandits, Sunday Igboho’s Security Squad in Fierce Gun Battle inside Oyo Forest

​IBADAN – A high-stakes anti-banditry operation turned bloody inside the dense thickets of the Old Oyo National Park when suspected cross-border bandits ambushed the private security team of Yoruba Nation activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.

​The violent encounter left several operatives of Igboho’s newly formed indigenous security outfit, Iru Ekun, with severe gunshot wounds after a fierce, protracted gun battle with heavily armed criminal networks.

​The Midnight Skirmish

​The incident unfolded during a strategic deep-forest sweep launched by the Iru Ekun squad. The voluntary security network had marched into the vast national reserve to track down and flush out syndicated kidnapping rings and terrorists blamed for the recent spate of abductions in the state—including the high-profile kidnapping of schoolchildren in the Oriire Local Government Area.

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​Local sources and eyewitness accounts shared on social media revealed that Igboho’s team had deployed high-tech aerial surveillance, using drones to scan the difficult terrain, map out hidden criminal camps, and track illicit movements beneath the forest canopy.

​However, the precision operation hit a deadly snag when the advancing operatives unexpectedly bumped into a heavily fortified encampment of cross-border criminals. The bandits immediately opened fire with sophisticated weapons, triggering a chaotic and bloody firefight.

​While the exact casualty figures remain closely guarded, multiple sources confirmed that numerous Iru Ekun personnel sustained varying degrees of gunshot injuries before the squad could stabilize the situation.

​Makinde, Analysts React

​Confirming the chilling encounter, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, stated that preliminary intelligence reports from state security agencies pointed directly to notorious cross-border banditry syndicates. Governor Makinde assured the public that state forces have launched a comprehensive investigation to track down the assailants and restore order to the volatile axis.

​Security analysts have noted that while the use of advanced drone technology by local outfits underscores a shifting reliance toward intelligence-led operations in dense terrains, the encounter highlights the severe danger of non-state actors operating parallel structures in volatile borders.

​”Enough is Enough”

​The bloody clash comes just weeks after Igboho officially unveiled the Iru Ekun Security Network, declaring that his men would sweep forests across the South-West, as well as Yoruba-speaking communities in Kwara and Kogi states, to end the safe havens enjoyed by terrorists.

​”We cannot continue to stand by helplessly while innocent citizens are murdered and abducted by bandits… anyone found operating suspiciously in our forests should be treated as a criminal,” Igboho had previously asserted, noting that his team was prepared to complement conventional security agencies.

​Following the ambush, traumatized residents of agrarian communities bordering the Old Oyo National Park have renewed their frantic calls for the state government to orchestrate a tight, unified collaboration between the military, the police, the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun), and local vigilantes to prevent the historic forest from becoming a permanent fortress for terrorists.